


Understanding Iza-nii

by ScarletCake



Series: Adoration [3]
Category: Durarara!!
Genre: Developing Friendships, Developing Relationship, Family Bonding, Family Fluff, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-18
Updated: 2017-03-18
Packaged: 2018-10-07 07:06:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,106
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10354851
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ScarletCake/pseuds/ScarletCake
Summary: The twins watch Izaya grow and change.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [izanyas](https://archiveofourown.org/users/izanyas/gifts).



> I know this is late and I apologize for that, but Happy Birthday! I hope you like it.

Mairu and Kururi were standing at the gate of their school, their hands clasped tightly as they waited for Izaya to come pick them up. He was supposed to be there two minutes ago and Mairu had started complaining loudly as soon as the watch on Kururi’s wrist hit the designated time.

“Iza-nii says he’s never late for anything but then he leaves us standing here waiting for him.”

Kururi looked at her sister calmly, “He has a reason.”

Mairu huffed in annoyance, “I don’t care what his reason is. What if a gang showed up and kidnapped us? Then what would he tell mom.”

“We’re safe.” Kururi insisted.

“Nowhere is safe. You saw the news this morning too.” She kicked at a rock near her foot, “Iza-nii probably wants us to be kidnapped anyway. It would give him the freedom to do whatever he wants.”

Kururi frowned and stared off down the sidewalk in expectation. She knew Izaya wouldn’t leave them there without a reason and two minutes wasn’t a long time. Maybe he was held after class for getting in trouble again.

“I bet he got in a fight with Shizu-chan again.” Mairu stated harshly in echo of her thoughts. She sounded like she was disappointed in their brother over his behavior instead of fascinated by it. It was an unusual reaction and Kururi thought she might be worried.

When Mairu didn’t elaborate further, Kururi murmured, “He seems happy.”

Mairu was actually quiet at that and when she looked at her again she was staring at her shoes thoughtfully. “Do you think he’s told Shizu-chan about it yet?”

Kururi considered that for some time. Izaya did seem to care a great deal about Shizuo, though he refused to claim as much any time she asked him about it. But why else would he spend all of his free time around him or talking about him? It was that stubbornness that made Kururi doubt he had told Shizuo anything. He had barely spoken about it since he told the twins about it.

Kururi wanted to have a chance to call him Iza-nee, but he never told them anything and least of all about himself or how he was feeling.

“No.” Kururi shook her head and turned to watch for Izaya again, “He’s afraid.”

“Iza-nii isn’t scared of Shizu-chan, Kuru-nee.” Mairu said stubbornly. Kururi heard the rock she’d been kicking skip across concrete and then everything fell quiet again.

It was starting to grow colder outside. The summer heat finally dying away and allowing the people of the city to breathe more easily. It was windy and Kururi wished she’d brought a sweater.

In her distraction from the wind she missed Izaya turn the corner across the street. Mairu clutched her hand tighter in excitement and Kururi looked up to catch Izaya’s expression.

It looked like guilt.

She stood absolutely still and didn’t look away even after he did. He didn’t look like he’d been in a fight. Usually his hair, at least, was rumpled from those and his cheeks weren’t flushed with exhaustion either. Kururi’s forehead crinkled in confusion.

Mairu spoke up when he was almost to them, her tone demanding, “We’ve been waiting for ten minutes, y’know. Where have you been?”

Izaya shrugged, “I had something I had to do first.”

Kururi watched him closely and caught the way he avoided her eyes. She didn’t mention it.

Mairu was complaining again even as Izaya reached for both of their hands. His hands were sweating. “What if we got kidnapped? Would you have come to save us?”

“Noone would kidnap you two. You’re too loud and Kururi would scare them away.”

“They would if they knew we’re your sisters!” Mairu protested adamantly.

Izaya’s shoulders tensed but his grip on their hands remained the same. “It’s a good thing you can defend yourselves then.”

Kururi frowned at him but he still didn’t look at her. Mairu made eye contact with her and seemed to understand her frustration. Smiling mischievously up at Izaya, she said, “Maybe you should come to our defence classes with us.”

“No. I’ve already told you I don’t have time for that.” Kururi sighed in disappointment and hugged his arm. He looked down at her and his expression softened a tiny bit, “Besides, I get too much exercise as it is and I prefer watching you two have fun while I catch up on homework.”

“You get too much exercise because you won’t just tell Shizu-chan you like him.” Mairu chirped from his other side and Kururi blinked in surprise. Izaya’s arm tensed up and his grip on her hand tightened in what she assumed was annoyance. Before he could respond Mairu was talking again, “It’s not that hard to see, you know. You talk about him all the time.”

“I don’t like Shizu-chan.” He denied immediately and then glared at Mairu’s knowing smirk. “That’s not the only exercise I get either. He doesn’t chase me every day.”

Kururi tugged on his shirt sleeve to draw his attention, “When did Shizu-chan stop chasing you?”

“He hasn’t stopped.” Izaya stated flatly, “It’s just less often than it was. I have to provoke him into it most of the time now.” He looked irritated but he wasn’t as tense anymore.

“How come we’ve never met him?” Mairu said after a while. Kururi had been enjoying the silence and if Izaya’s exhausted sigh was anything to go off of, so was he.

“Probably because he’s an angry beast that’s out of control.” Izaya grumbled, “He can’t stand the sight of me. He certainly doesn’t have the patience to deal with two kids, least of all ones that share my genes.”

Kururi smiled faintly at the underlying concern in his voice, “Worried.”

Izaya jerked his head up from whatever he’d been staring at on his shoes. He was tense still but it was different. He was embarrassed. “I’m not _worried_. Shizu-chan would never hurt either of you. I just don’t want to test his patience. It’s already hard enough for him to sit in a classroom with me ‘stinking up the room’. I doubt he could handle all three of us at once.”

He was trying to sound vicious but all he accomplished was fondness. Kururi could see right through him. Mairu, surprisingly, didn’t call him out on it. “If he doesn’t chase you unless you make him angry I’m sure you could be together long enough to let us meet him.”

Izaya clenched his jaw tightly and didn’t respond immediately. Mairu was staring at him so Kururi looked ahead of them to see where they were going. Mairu and Izaya were very stubborn and Kururi didn’t know who would win a stare off between the two of them this time. Where Shizuo was concerned it was usually Izaya but Mairu was strangely adamant about this.

“Is there a reason you _don’t_ want us to meet him, Iza-nii?” Kururi didn’t have to be looking at her sister to know she was grinning as she said that.

There were a lot of people walking on the sidewalk ahead of them so at first Kururi didn’t notice the boy standing at the corner across the road they were about to cross. What drew her attention to him was the uniform she recognized as the one from Izaya’s school. It wasn’t really an important detail. She knew many of the students from his school walked this way on their way home. What continued to hold her attention was the bright golden color of his hair and the cigarette he was smoking.

She was pretty sure Shizuo had blond hair and smoked cigarettes but she didn’t want to point him out to Izaya before they got closer and she could get a better look at him. If it was him she wanted to have an idea of what he looked like for future reference and she was almost certain that Izaya would choose an alternate route home if he was paying attention to anything other than the argument he was having with Mairu.

As it was, the boy noticed them before Izaya bothered to look in his direction. They’d walked that way many times, it was familiar enough to them that they didn’t have to think about watching where they were going. Izaya wasn’t even trying to take in all of the people around them like he usually was.

It would’ve confused Kururi if she wasn’t used to how he was when Shizuo was so much as mentioned. Today she was extra thankful for it. As they drew closer to where the boy was smoking his expression started to show signs of recognition. His eyes were intense.

Kururi was convinced that he was who she thought he was.

When the boy lowered his cigarette and his eyebrows furrowed in confusion she knew he’d finally noticed her and Mairu. Mairu was keeping up a steady stream of conversation that Kururi wasn’t actually listening to for once and Izaya’s hand was very sweaty in her own, but he wasn’t tensing up in recognition yet so he hadn’t seen the boy yet.

Maybe it wasn’t him, but Kururi decided to chance it anyway. She tugged on Izaya’s sleeve and in a slightly louder tone than she usually used she said, “Shizu-chan.”

It took Izaya three seconds to look up, grip their hands harder in surprise, and freeze up completely. It wasn’t the response she had expected from him, but Shizuo didn’t seem particularly off-put by it. If anything he was doing his best to mirror Izaya.

Mairu was the first to speak up, taking advantage of the moment, “You’re Shizu-chan?” She paused just long enough for Shizuo’s mouth to pull down into a frown and then she was pressing onward in a happy chirp, “I can see why Iza-nii talks about you so much. You really stand out. Are you old enough to be smoking? Why is your hair that color? Are you the reason Iza-nii was late to pick us up today?”

Shizuo looked confused while he stared at Izaya for a moment longer and then glanced down at Mairu, “Iza-nii?”

“Yes.” She stated as if it should be obvious to him. “I’m Mairu, and that’s Kururi. Has Iza-nii never talked about us before?”

“Mairu.” Izaya said suddenly, his voice harsher with how abrupt it was.

She didn’t seem discouraged though. “I’m just curious what Shizu-chan is like. You won’t ever tell me and I’m sure Kuru-nee is just as curious as I am.”

Shizuo’s expression twisted from confusion into annoyance, “My name isn’t Shizu-chan. It’s Shizuo.” He looked up to meet Izaya’s eyes, “Izaya’s never mentioned either of you to me...but we’re not exactly friends so I wouldn’t have expected him to.”

Kururi watched ash fall from his cigarette onto the sidewalk before he crushed it between his fingers. Izaya squeezed her hand tighter.

“Shizuo.” he said firmly.

Shizuo looked startled and then he seemed to realize where he was and he loosened his fingers around the cigarette. Kururi didn’t understand how he had calmed himself down. Izaya always complained that when Shizuo got angry he was completely lost to it.

He rubbed the back of his neck and actually looked apologetic, even making eye contact with Izaya and then the twins as he said, “Sorry. It’s nice to meet you.” He hesitated, staring at Izaya’s face for a moment longer. Then he said, “I should go.”

Izaya’s grip on Kururi’s hand was still tight and it was beginning to ache, but she didn’t say anything about it. “Yes. You should.”

He didn’t sound as aggressive as she thought he was intending to.

Shizuo stared at him for a few seconds longer before he nodded and walked past them. Kururi turned to watch him and caught him turn to look at Izaya again, his eyes lingering on the back of his head.

Then he noticed her staring at him. He made an attempt at a small wave before he turned back around and hunched his shoulders a bit.

Kururi didn’t know what to think of him. Izaya had never mentioned how soft his eyes went when he looked at him.

Maybe he didn’t notice.

~~~

It was months before the next time she saw Shizuo. Izaya was careful to pay attention on the days he walked them home from school, but it seemed unnecessary because they never ran into him again. Izaya stopped talking about him so much for a while, then he seemed to forget why he was doing that and redoubled his efforts to seem angry about everything Shizuo did.

Kururi wasn’t fooled by this, but she was interested in what he had to say. Any time he spoke to her and Mairu she was happy.

As the air grew warmer and the plants more vibrant, Izaya bloomed much like the flowers in the twin’s bedroom window did. He was happy, content even. Kururi had very rarely seen him this way in the past.

She suspected it had something to do with Shizuo and all the evenings Izaya would come home looking rumpled and lovestruck. But she had yet to see anything to prove her observations correct.

Mairu was more forward with her suspicions, though she never spoke of Shizuo directly in any of it. She was probably hoping he’d slip up and tell her something.

It was always enjoyable to watch them bicker and tease each other at dinner or when they all watched tv together. Izaya sat in between them and Kururi leaned against his side or held his hand, occasionally asking her own questions about his and Mairu’s conversation or about whatever they were watching.

It was comfortable.

There were days that he would come home with bandages or bruises that he would shrug off as accidents, smiling all the while. A few times he had come home with bloody knuckles or a scraped knee that he wore as a badge of pride and bragged about while Kururi helped him clean it. That usually happened on days he would come home late.

So Mairu and Kururi would sit near the front window and wait for him to show up, half expecting him to be skipping and half expecting him to be grinning to himself while holding an injury.

That day he was even later than usual. The sun was low in the sky and the girls had already had dinner--after waiting for about ten minutes longer than usual to see if Izaya would show up to eat with them. Mairu seemed angry with him and was in the process of threatening to kick him when Kururi caught sight of him. She sat up straighter and Mairu stopped her tirade long enough to look out the window again.

“Shizu-chan.” Kururi mumbled, surprised.

“This is unusual.” Mairu agreed, “Shizu-chan has never walked Iza-nii home before.”

As they walked closer she noticed the tiny pink blotches in Izaya’s hair and pointed them out in her confusion over them. Mairu tilted her head, “I think those are flowers.”

Kururi frowned, “Why?”

She shrugged and leaned forward to put her chin in her hands, “Maybe they’re on a date or something. Iza-nii looks happy enough and I think Shizu-chan is blushing.”

Mairu was correct. When they were close enough to the gate Shizuo started looking even more unsure of himself. His face was very red and he was staring at his shoes and risking tiny glances back up to Izaya’s face.

Izaya was talking about something that he seemed to think was funny. She could only see part of his face so it was hard to tell if he was also nervous, but she knew his body language when he laughed at least.

Mairu grabbed her hand and tugged her toward the front door. She let go long enough to throw the door open as loudly as she could. And then she was glaring at Shizuo.

His eyes went wide in surprise for a few seconds and then he looked a mixture of confused and embarrassed. Izaya was glaring at Mairu in annoyance.

“Iza-nii, you’re late.” Mairu stated loudly, continuing to glare at Shizuo even as she addressed their brother. “You promised to have dinner with us tonight.”

Izaya huffed at her and Shizuo’s face darkened with guilt, “I promised no such thing. I had plans today. I told you that this morning.”

Kururi squinted at Shizuo when she noticed the tiny pink flowers in his bangs. His hair had been messy and curly the last time she had seen him so she couldn’t tell if it was worse or not. Looking over at Izaya confirmed that they were the same flowers, only they were supposed to be encircling his head and a few of them were missing from the front. Mairu didn’t seem to notice as Kururi mumbled _Interesting_ under her breath.

Shizuo caught her staring at him and smiled faintly.

And then Izaya drew his attention away again, “I’m sorry Shizu-chan, but it seems this is goodbye for now.”

Shizuo’s eyes looked soft and warm in the dying light of the sun. “Yeah. Alright. Today was fun though, we should do that again.”

“Let’s maybe avoid getting in a fight with a gang first next time. It kinda puts a damper on things.”

Shizuo smiled and laughed brightly. Kururi liked his laugh. “You didn’t seem to mind all that much, but yeah. Avoiding that’d probably be good.” He seemed to remember the twins and looked up to see them still standing in the doorway staring at them, “Uh. I’m sorry for stealing Izaya from you for so long.” He bowed politely and Mairu grinned as if that was the best thing he could’ve done to win her over.

“Just don’t do it again without asking.” She chirped and Shizuo grinned back at her.

Izaya was watching Shizuo with an unconscious smile on his lips that looked far softer than any of the ones Kururi had seen from him before.

It made her happy that someone could make her brother happy enough for him to smile like that.

~~~

After that they saw Shizuo a few more times, briefly, and he had dinner with them once. Kururi liked his cooking and wished he could come over all the time but Izaya insisted that he couldn’t. She didn’t know why but she didn’t ask. Mairu had tried asking and only made Izaya angry in doing so. Kururi didn’t want to make him angry.

Izaya did let them be involved enough to help with ideas he had for dates with Shizuo. The twins never went with them of course, but occasionally he’d ask for their help. Most of the time it was simple things like new places they could go or new things to do or, more recently, what he should wear.

But it bothered Kururi that Izaya never mentioned girl days in conversation with them. She was certain that at least one instance of Izaya asking for help with his clothes had been on one such day. She hadn’t said anything about it and there was very little that had given it away to her, but she wants Izaya to feel comfortable enough to talk about it.

She knew that he’d already told Shizuo. He’d come home one day smiling and skipping and so _relaxed_ it had been obvious to her what had happened.

Looking at him now, at how anxiously he was staring at his phone--she knew it was Shizuo he was talking to--she could tell that something was bothering him. It wasn't the same kind of anxiety she had seen in him over the last time he’d asked Shizuo on a date.

Kururi frowned and decided to call out to him. “Iza-nii.”

Izaya jerked like he’d just been struck, then turned his head to look at her, “What’s wrong?”

“Does Shizu-chan know?”

“What?” Izaya blinked at her in confusion, “Does he know what?”

Kururi took a moment to take in his outfit, at the tiny details so different from normal but unnoticeable if she didn’t know what to look for. She nodded to herself. “Today you’re Iza-nee.”

Izaya flushed instantly, “What did you call me?”

“Iza-nee,” Kururi smiled at her, “because you’re my sister today.”

“How do you know that?” Izaya looked down at herself as if she’d be able to see what Kururi saw, “Is it that obvious?”

Kururi shook her head, “To me, not to everyone.”

“Oh. Well…” Izaya frowned and stared at her hands for a moment before tentatively glancing back up to meet Kururi’s eyes, “I guess that’s alright then.”

She nodded firmly, “It is.”

And then she waited for her sister to remember what she had asked beforehand. Izaya’s ears grew red the longer they sat like that, but she didn’t say anything else.

Kururi let out a breath she’d accidentally been holding and stood up. “Stay here” was all she said when Izaya asked what she was doing.

What she was looking for was in a box in Mairu’s and her room, on top of the desk they never used. She opened it and sifted through the contents until she found the bottle she was looking for. Once the box was closed and she was certain it wouldn’t fall, she padded back into the living room.

Izaya was staring at her when she came back into the room, “What are you doing?”

Kururi sat next to her and pointed at the bottle in her hand, “Nails.”

Izaya looked at her like she was asking something in a different language, “Why?”

Kururi shrugged and pulled on Izaya’s hand until she relented and let her spread it out the way she wanted. They sat in silence through the first few nails before Izaya huffed at her impatiently. “I don’t think Shizu-chan is going to be particularly impressed by this, Kururi.”

She smiled very faintly, “It isn’t for Shizu-chan.”

“What?” Kururi could see her staring at her from the corner of her eye, “Who is it for then?”

“Iza-nee.”

It grew quiet again. Kururi would have found it funny that it was so easy to leave Izaya speechless, but Kururi wasn’t Mairu.

She’d chosen red because she was aware that Izaya liked the color red. The last time she’d asked what her favorite color was, the answer she’d received was red. Followed closely by a very specific shade of yellow that she knew the reason behind.

Izaya had never been very subtle.

At least not to Kururi, or when it came to Shizuo.

She’d have liked to think that it was because Izaya trusted her, but she knew it was more that she was changing as she grew older and she’d stopped caring about the information she expressed in front of the twins.

Kururi wasn’t about to point that out to her because she knew it would lead to Izaya closing herself off again.

“I can’t text Shizu-chan like this.” Izaya complained when Kururi finished painting the last nail, “How is he going to know I haven’t left him to wander the city by himself? He might get tired of waiting for me.”

It was always funny when Izaya tried to distract from her discomfort by changing the subject to something entirely different. Kururi could tell she was nervous. Or at least that she was uncomfortable about _something_ even if she didn’t know what it was.

Kururi settled back into the couch cushions and made eye contact with Izaya. Keeping her expression soft but focused, she said “Shizu-chan would wait forever for Iza-nee.”

Izaya immediately flushed dark red and averted her eyes.

She was happy.

~~~

Mairu recently had decided that she wanted to get a gift for Izaya, but when she’d thought about what exactly she wanted to get for him she’d been at a loss. And when she’d come to Kururi about it she’d shrugged in equal uncertainty.

Izaya always responded to anything they got for him in the same way. The only time Kururi had seen him act any different was when it was Shizuo giving him something. When Kururi had pointed this out Mairu had looked at her in pensive silence.

“Maybe we should visit Shizu-nii and ask him for advice. He knows Iza-nii better than even we do and it’ll be fun to annoy him with an unexpected visit.” Kururi frowned at her and Mairu grinned, “Oh come on, you think it’s funny too! The way his forehead gets all wrinkled up and he growls at me when I talk, or when he breaks coffee cups like he did that one time we played with Iza-nii’s hair!” Mairu laughed and twirled around, her braids nearly slapping Kururi in the face, “Plus it’s been awhile since we saw him and I’d like to see the cats since Iza-nii keeps refusing to let us visit. Shizu-nii hasn’t ever told us we can’t come in.”

Kururi shook her head, “He’s told us not to come in before.”

“Yeah but that was years ago! It’s different now.” Mairu reached out to take Kururi’s hand and tugged her forward after her, “He won’t make us leave. Especially if we mention that we’re visiting to ask about things Iza-nii likes.”

Kururi chewed on her bottom lip as she thought about that. It was true that a few years ago Shizuo would’ve ignored them when they waited outside the door or picked them up and made them leave if they did something to annoy him, but he’d apparently become more patient because the last time Mairu actively tried to annoy him he’d barely responded.

Izaya had seemed particularly proud of him for that so maybe he’d said something.

Somehow Kururi doubted that.

The trip from Ikebukuro to Shinjuku was uneventful and Kururi phased out for the majority of it, only really focusing on what Mairu said directly to her and at one point staring at a boy with blue hair that she thought might have been Aoba but wasn’t.

A long time ago Kururi wouldn’t have expected Izaya to have ever been able to settle into something that looked like comfort, especially not with someone else. But she’d seen how happy he was last time Mairu and she visited.

There wasn’t much that felt as satisfying as seeing Izaya that happy.

He must have been lonely before the twins were born. She’d never asked him what it was like before and she doubted he’d be completely honest with her about it. If she really felt up to it she could have asked Shizuo. She was sure Izaya would’ve told him by now, but there was a lot that she was curious about that she only wanted to hear from Izaya.

She didn’t doubt that Shizuo felt the same way on that matter.

He was intensely respectful of Izaya’s boundaries and opinions. It was one of the many things Kururi appreciated about him, that made him such a good presence for her brother.

His warm smile when he greeted them was something else she liked about him. “Izaya isn’t home at the moment. He should be back in a few hours though if you wanted to see him.”

Mairu skipped inside, kicking her shoes off haphazardly and continuing on toward the couch. Kururi followed her inside and took the time to set both of their sets of shoes by the wall before she continued any further into the apartment. Shizuo shut the door behind her and smiled softly at her when he walked past her.

Mairu was standing near the cat tree peeking in at the cats, still, when Kururi sat on the couch. “What did you name the black one again? I bet it’s a girl. If they have kittens you need to give me and Kuru-nee one.”

Kururi frowned at her sister, “We don’t have room for a kitten.”

Mairu turned around and stared at her blankly and then looked at Shizuo, “Then you’ll have to keep one for us until we have an apartment with enough space for one.”

Shizuo sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He glanced at Kururi before he looked at Mairu, just long enough for her to see the amusement in his eyes, “If Nyx by some miracle has kittens then I’ll let you two name one of them.”

It wasn’t what Mairu had demanded but she nodded as if she was satisfied with that outcome regardless and pranced over to the couch and flopped down next to Kururi, “Good. We’ll start coming up with names then.”

Shizuo’s lips twitched at the corners.

“Now, Kuru-nee and I wanted to talk to you about the sorts of things Iza-nii likes. Is there anything in particular he’s told you he really wants? Skirts or hair clips maybe? He has a lot of those so probably not actually.” Mairu rubbed her chin in thought, “What about pajamas? I know he’s probably still fond of wearing your clothes to bed, but don’t you think he’d like to have some really soft, warm clothes to wear as pajamas?”

Shizuo stared at her, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion, “Uhm. Well. A few days ago he complained about not having enough socks.”

Mairu rolled her eyes, “Socks are not an imaginative gift, Shizu-nii.”

“No, but that is an answer to what you asked for.” Shizuo remarked and Kururi smiled faintly, “He doesn’t really need any more clothes to wear to bed. He has too many as it is and he _still_ insists on wearing mine even with all of those, so it’s best not to add to that issue.”

“What about shoes?” Kururi asked quietly.

Shizuo looked over at her and seemed to think about that before he answered, “Maybe a pair of boots? For when it gets cold, yknow? He uh.” Shizuo looked away and rubbed the back of his neck, his cheeks beginning to show signs of a blush, “He hasn’t really said he wants those but I’m sure he’d appreciate them if he had some.”

Kururi nodded and waited until Shizuo’s skin lost the pink undertone. Mairu flipped through channels on the tv with a disinterested expression on her face. “Jewelry is another option, though we don’t have the money for that kind of thing so maybe that’s a bad idea. Iza-nii would notice if we used his money and then where would we be? It wouldn’t be a surprise anymore.”

Shizuo huffed a small laugh and Kururi curled her legs up toward her chest. Shizuo reached for the blanket over the arm of the couch beside him and handed it to her. She took it gratefully and spread it out over Mairu’s legs as well as her own. That gave her an idea. “Does he have a heated blanket?”

“Yeah, I bought him one a few years ago. Another wouldn’t hurt though. We could keep one upstairs and one down here so he won’t have to keep dragging it around the apartment.” Shizuo’s voice betrayed how fond he was of that mental image, “Ra really likes the one we have so I can give you the brand name if you want?”

Mairu shook her head, “That’s not important. We’ll find a good one if we go with that.”

“Alright.” Shizuo replied, “So boots and a blanket. He’s going to think you’re worried about him catching a cold if that’s what you get for him.”

Kururi laughed under her breath and Mairu grinned widely, “He’d never believe that even if we told him to his face that we were, don’t worry.”

“I don’t know about that, but if you’re so sure of yourselves then that sounds like a good enough gift to me.”

Mairu shook her head, “These are ideas. Is there anything you think he’d like just from us that he wouldn’t like as much if it came from you?”

For the first time since they arrived, Shizuo frowned. “Not really? His likes don’t really fluctuate depending on who he’s talking to. He’ll love anything you two get for him, same as he’d love whatever I gave him.” he paused, “He’d be suspicious if Shinra got something for him, but that’s kinda obvious. Shiki though--”

“Nail polish?” Kururi asked suddenly, remembering years ago when she’d painted Izaya’s nails fairly regularly, “Does he have nail polish that you buy for him?”

Shizuo’s eyes widened a bit, “No, actually. I’ve never really thought to buy any for him. All of what he has are things he’s picked out himself.”

Kururi smiled brightly and looked at Mairu with excitement burning through her, “Please.”

Mairu looked at her, surprised by the outburst for all of two seconds before she joined Kururi in her excitement and matched her smile, “Nail polish is perfect!” She turned quickly to meet Shizuo’s eyes and he wasn’t able to hide the amused smile on his lips fast enough for Kururi to miss it, but Mairu didn’t seem to care, “Nail polish, boots, and a heated blanket it is then. Just don’t tell Iza-nii we asked you for advice or he’ll think we didn’t put any thought into it.”

“Pretty sure he wouldn’t believe me anyway.” He pursed his lips thoughtfully, “What is this about? You’ve never asked this kind of thing before and it’s not near enough to his birthday for you to be searching for presents yet. Is there something I don’t know about?” he glanced between them as he spoke and Kururi had a feeling he was worried they’d done something detrimental to Izaya.

“Iza-nii isn’t mad at us.” She said softly and Mairu nodded enthusiastically, “Yeah! We just wanted to get something for him. You give him a lot of things so we figured you’d know what he likes better than we do. _Especially_ since we’ve not been around much lately.”

Kururi frowned at her accusative tone but Shizuo was almost smiling instead of showing any signs of annoyance like Mairu seemed to have wanted him to. He looked faintly smug, even. “I would apologize for taking up all of your brother’s free time, but I’d be lying if I said that.”

Kururi laughed quietly and Mairu crossed her arms in a show of irritation, “You get to spend every waking moment with Iza-nii if you so choose. We barely see him at all!”

Shizuo shook his head, a grin playing at the corners of his mouth and his eyes intensely bright on happiness, “You do realize Izaya tells me when he visits you two, right? He spent the evening with you two last week. He came home late and everything, you’d even managed to demand he make dinner for the three of you instead of letting him come home to eat with me.” Mairu huffed loudly at Shizuo’s words and all it did was make the grin break out across his face, “Tell me again how infrequently you see him.”

Mairu was glaring at him when Kururi looked at her because of her uncharacteristic silence. She smiled at her sister and then turned back to Shizuo, delighted by this turn of events, “Shizu-nii?”

“Yes?”

“Can you teach me how to make cookies?”

Shizuo stared blankly at her for a moment before he flipped open his phone to check the time, nodding to her afterward, “Yeah I can do that. Mairu would you like to join us or are you going to continue pouting on the couch?”

“I dunno.” Mairu responded immediately, “Do I get to help this time?”

Shizuo chuckled and stood up, stretched his arms out and rolled his sleeves up, “Sure, as long as you don’t catch anything on fire.”

“That was an accident.” she chirped unconvincingly and Shizuo laughed at her insistence.

“Yeah, alright. I definitely believe that.”

Kururi followed behind them as they walked into the kitchen, watching the relaxed line of Shizuo’s shoulders and the easy smile on his face, Mairu’s overzealous skipping that undermined her complaints. The only thing missing was Izaya’s laughter as he watched all of them together. Kururi glanced at her watch and guessed it’d be about an hour before Izaya got home.

Just enough time for them to make cookies and clean up the kitchen after themselves.

She knew Izaya didn’t really like sweets, but she didn’t doubt he’d eat them anyway. With how sweet Shizuo’s personality was, it wasn’t exactly surprising that he’d grown to enjoy confectionary treats occasionally.

When she got a good look at the recipe Shizuo set out for them to follow she smiled to herself. He was actively choosing to make something Izaya would enjoy.

She wouldn’t have expected anything less from him.


End file.
